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Photos: Pope John Paul II 11 photos

Photos: Pope John Paul II11 photos

Pope John Paul II – The Roman Catholic Church will declare Pope John Paul II a saint, the Vatican announced Friday, July 5. The Polish-born pope, pictured in 1978, was fast-tracked to beatification after his death in 2005 and was declared "blessed" barely six years later -- the fastest beatification in centuries. Here's a look at the most widely traveled pope and his journeys around the world:

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Photos: Pope John Paul II11 photos

Pope John Paul II – Pope John Paul II blesses the crowd in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on Easter Sunday in April 1980.

Pope John Paul II – Pope John Paul II in Segovia, Spain, in November 1982.

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Pope John Paul II – Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa wave to well-wishers in Kolkata, India, in February 1986.

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Pope John Paul II – Pope John Paul II kisses the ground upon arriving in Auckland, New Zealand, in November 1986.

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Pope John Paul II – Bill and Hillary Clinton greet Pope John Paul II as he arrives in Newark, New Jersey, on a U.S. trip in October 1995.

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Pope John Paul II – Pope John Paul II visits then-South African President Nelson Mandela at the presidential guesthouse in Pretoria, South Africa, in September 1995.

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Pope John Paul II – Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims attend an open-air Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II in Beirut, Lebanon, in May 1997. The pontiff drew vast crowds as he crisscrossed the globe.

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Pope John Paul II – Cuban leader Fidel Castro greets the pope in Cuba in January 1998. John Paul II was the first pontiff to visit the Caribbean island nation.

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Pope John Paul II – Pope John Paul II at the Mass of beatification of Anton Martin Slomsek in Maribor, Slovenia, in September 1999.

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EXPAND GALLERY

Their call was heard.

Bypassing the normal five-year waiting period, Pope Benedict XVI set in motion the process to canonize his predecessor.

John Paul is said to have miraculously cured Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a French nun stricken by Parkinson's disease, several months after his death.

The church says the second miracle occurred when a Costa Rican woman with a brain aneurism recovered after praying to John Paul.

John XXIII, revered for his role in the Second Vatican Council, is only recorded as having performed one miracle after his death in 1963.

"Pope Francis has decided that there already was a decree of heroic virtue saying that the man had lived a holy life," Allen says. "There already was one miracle certified for his beatification in 2000, so Pope Francis has decided he doesn't have to pass go, doesn't have to collect $200, he can go directly to sainthood."

In fact, canonization by the Catholic Church simply formalizes on earth what is already in place in heaven, Allen points out.

"It's not like Karol Wojtyla, John Paul II, will suddenly become a saint when the canonization ceremony occurs," he says. "The belief would be he is already in heaven with God, living the life of a saint. All that's going to happen when the ceremony occurs is that the church will officially recognize that."